Same-gender marriage has been legal for nearly nine years in Massachusetts, where I live. None of the threats that some people imagined a decade ago ever came to pass. All that happened here is good things: divorce rates plummeted, state revenues increased, and children of same-gender couples were covered by federal programs.Today, the opponents of equality give only two reasons for treating same-gender couples unfairly.Firstly, they argue that if same-gender couples marry, then organizations, businesses and religions that always discriminate against LGBT people won’t be able to do that anymore. They’re correct, but that’s not a reason to oppose marriage equality; it’s a reason to support it.Secondly, they argue that children might discover that same-gender couples and families exist. That’s untrue. Children of all ages already know that, and they’ll continue learning it from their playmates and the world around them, and they’re fine with it. It’s only prejudiced adults who fear this fact.

The way marriage equality opponents talk, you would think that RI is the first state to deal with this issue. The fact that we are surrounded by states with civil marriage equality, and those states are doing just fine, makes their arguments against equality all the more ludicrous.